Study shows arts education benefits at-risk youth

By BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press

Monday, April 2, 2012

Low-income students who are involved in arts activities have higher academic achievement and are more likely to go to college, according to new research Friday based on studies tracking students over time.

The study released by the National Endowment for the Arts follows other federal research showing arts education can have a significant impact for disadvantaged youth. “The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth” also found that students who have access to the arts tend to have better workforce goals and opportunities and more civic engagement, such as voting, volunteering and reading about current events.

Researchers examined databases from the U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor that have been tracking groups of teens and young adults over time. The long-term studies tracked students with a history of arts involvement and those who had little engagement with the arts.

In academics, low-income eighth graders who had high arts engagement through elementary school showed higher test scores in both science and writing and came closer to performing at the level of the overall student population with students from wealthier backgrounds. In high school, arts students from low-income backgrounds were more likely to complete a calculus course, earned slightly better grades in math and showed higher overall GPAs. Also, disadvantaged high school students with few or no arts credits on their transcripts were five times more likely not to have graduated.

Rocco Landesman, chairman of the federal arts endowment, said the research shows the arts have a place in overall education reform.

“Arts education doesn’t take place in isolation,” he said. “This report shows that arts education has strong links with other positive educational outcomes.”

The study looked at a broad range of arts activities from music, theater or visual arts classes to out-of-school arts programs.

It found that low-income students with high participation in the arts were 15 percent more likely to enroll in a selective four-year college than those with little arts engagement. The same students also had the highest rates of aspiring to a professional career.

The report was prepared by James S. Catterall of the University of California Los Angeles, Susan A. Dumais of Louisiana State University and Gillian Hampden-Thompson of the University of York in the United Kingdom.

The endowment recently announced it is forming a task force of 13 federal agencies to foster more research on how the arts impact human development, coordinating with government researchers in health, education and science.